Tchaikovsky's mother: Alexandra Andreyevna

6. Tchaikovsky's mother: Alexandra Andreyevna

The young Pyotr Tchaikovsky is shown on the far left of this picture, with his mother Alexandra, his sister Alexandra, his brothers Zinaida, Nikolai and Ippolit and his father Ilya. She and Tchaikovsky's father were both trained in the arts, including music. When the young Pyotr had to leave home and his mother to go to boarding school, he was devastated – and the emotional scar of the separations stayed with him for the rest of his life.